Strategic Communication and AI: Public Relations with Intelligent User Interfaces

103 Pages·2021·1.626 MB·English

by  Simon Moore, Roland Hübscher

Strategic Communication and AI
This concise text provides an accessible introduction to artificial in-
telligence and intelligent user interfaces (IUIs) and how they are at
the heart of a communication revolution for strategic communications
and public relations.
IUIs are where users and technology meet – via computers, phones,
robots, public displays, etc. They use AI and machine learning meth-
ods to control how those systems interact, exchange data, learn from,
and develop relations with users. The authors explore research and
developments that are already changing human/machine engagement
in a wide range of areas from consumer goods, healthcare, and enter-
tainment to community relations, crisis management, and activism.
They also explore the implications for public relations of how tech-
nologies developing hyper-personalised persuasion could be used to
make choices for us, navigating the controversial space between influ-
ence, nudging, and controlling.
This readable overview of the applications and implications of AI
and IUIs will be welcomed by researchers, students, and practitioners
in all areas of strategic communication, public relations, and commu-
nications studies.
Simon Moore is Associate Professor in the Department of Information
Design & Corporate Communication at Bentley University in Massa-
chusetts, USA.
Roland Hübscher is Associate Professor in the Department of Infor-
mation Design & Corporate Communication at Bentley University in
Massachusetts, USA.
Routledge Insights in Public Relations Research
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and academics at all career levels are seeking authoritative publica-
tion opportunities for their scholarship. Routledge Insights in Public
R elations Research is a new program of short-form book publications,
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Authors from practice and the academy will be able to quickly pass
on their thinking and findings to fellow PR scholars, researchers, MA
and PhD students and informed practitioners.
Strategic Communication and AI
Public Relations with Intelligent User Interfaces
Simon Moore and Roland Hübscher
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Insights-in-Public-Relations-Research/book-series/RIPRR
Strategic Communication
and AI
Public Relations with Intelligent
User Interfaces
Simon Moore and
Roland Hübscher
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Simon Moore and Roland Hübscher
The right of Simon Moore and Roland Hübscher to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Moore, Simon, 1961– author. | Hübscher, Roland,
1961– author.
Title: Strategic communication and AI : public relations
with intelligent user interfaces / Simon Moore and
Roland Hübscher.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :
Routledge, 2022. |
Series: Routledge insights in public relations research |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021027074 (print) |
LCCN 2021027075 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Public relations—Technological
innovations. | Communication—Technological innovations. |
User interfaces (Computer systems) | Artificial intelligence—
Marketing applications.
Classification: LCC HM1221 .M668 2022 (print) |
LCC HM1221 (ebook) | DDC 659.2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027074
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027075
ISBN: 978-0-367-62779-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-62896-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-11132-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003111320
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
To my aunts, Frances Watson and Sheila Greenman.
With love.
SM
To my wife Teresa and daughter Sophia. Thank you for
your patience.
RH

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of abbreviations xi
1 Intelligent user interfaces (IUIs): the next
generation of digital communication 1
Reasons for this book 1
What kinds of IUIs are there? 4
What could IUIs do to PR? 6
2 Immersive communication: virtual and augmented realities 14
Sight, touch, interfaces and PR: points of
convergence 14
Sight 15
Touch 20
Sight, touch, and the balance of communication 23
3 Artificial intelligence, emotions, and trust:
feeling is believing 27
IUIs and feelings 27
IUIs and trust: can trust be designed? 34
Feelings and trust: beyond humans, beyond PR? 38
4 Just like us? Listening and learning interfaces 45
Listening like us, not looking like us 45
Learning like us: natural, neural, heterogeneous 50
PR inside the mind 55
viii Contents
5 From talking to persuasion: obstacles and opportunities 59
Obstacles and opportunities 59
Persuasive interfaces in PR 62
How will we use persuasive interfaces? 70
6 PR and the interface ‘face’: harnessing
hyper-personalised persuasion 75
Towards a ‘PR-friendly’ IUI personality 75
What do IUIs mean for PR? 78
Index 87
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Erik Austin, Bentley University’s Department
of Information Design & Corporate Communication, Bentley Univer-
sity Library and its many databases, Pierre Berthon, Don Bobiash, Ian
Cross, Sandra den Otter, Jon Ericsson, Bill Gribbons, Bernie Kavanagh,
Rahul Kumar, Ruth MacSween, Graeme Mew, Mike Michielin,
Sophie, Imogen and Isobel Moore, Jim Pouliopolous, Cliff Putney,
our reviewers, the Routledge team, Theresa Rozkiewicz, Javed S iddiqi,
Mike Tesler, Andrew Tietzen, Mounia Ziat.